Early-access features are limited to a closed group of testers for a limited
subset of launches. Participation is by invitation only and may require
signing a pre-general-availability agreement, including confidentiality
provisions. These features may be unstable, change in backward-incompatible
ways, and are not guaranteed to be released. There are no SLAs provided and
no technical support obligations. Early-access releases are rare and focus on
validating product prototypes.

Alpha

Alpha is a limited-availability test before releases are cleared for more
widespread use. Our focus with alpha testing is to verify functionality and
gather feedback from a limited set of customers. Typically, alpha
participation is by invitation and subject to pre-general-availability terms.
Alpha releases don't have to be feature complete, no SLAs are provided, and
there are no technical support obligations. However, alphas are generally
suitable for use in test environments. The alpha phase usually lasts six
months.

Beta

At beta, products or features are ready for broader customer testing and
use. Betas are often publicly announced. There are no SLAs or technical
support obligations in a beta release unless otherwise specified in product
terms or the terms of a particular beta program. The average beta phase lasts
about six months.

General availability

General availability products and features are open to all customers,
covered by the Google Cloud SLAs, and are ready for production use.

Deprecated

Deprecated features are scheduled to be shut down and removed. For more
information, see the "Deprecation Policy" section of our
Terms of Service.

Note: Depending on product maturity and engineering needs, a Google Cloud
product or feature may not go through every launch stage, and the time between
launch phases may vary.

A product listed on this page is in alpha, beta, or early access. For more information on our product launch stages, see
here.

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